Doing Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) at OsloMet

In line with OsloMet’s vision of delivering knowledge to solve societal challenges and its value based aim to be a learning, innovative (interdisciplinary and anticipatory) and diverse organisation, the University supports RRI as an overarching concept for responsibility in research and innovation. For OsloMet, this means that ethical reflection and anticipation shall be embedded in research and innovation processes and that in such processes staff shall seek to involve users, stakeholders and society in general to strengthen relevance and trust; that the University shall facilitate and encourage the broader access to research results by the broader community of researchers, a broad spectrum of interested parties and society in general; work to ensure diversity and gender balance in research and innovation; and further develop the focus on dissemination by facilitating two-way communication and strengthening the understanding of science in the population.

Why talk about RRI? RRI is an important policy framework in Norway and the European Union which aim to open up science to society, ensure that research and innovation is carried out in line with public values and public interests, and conducted in a fair process with quality and integrity. See the European Commission’s RRI approach and the Research Council of Norway’s RRI approach. Research and innovation change the world, and as researchers and innovators we need to be reflective about our activities and responsive to feedback.

RRI is an ambition and institutional goal that relies on staff implementing the dimensions of this framework in ways that make sense in their research and innovation context. There is no one-size-fits-all approach or straitjacket that everyone must apply, – except in the case where regulation applies, for instance with regard to ethical requirements.

These pages provide resources for staff at OsloMet that can be useful in their own research and innovation projects, for leaders implementing such values among their co-workers, as well as in the educational programs. They consist of a collection of resources already developed at OsloMet as well as resources gathered from other institutions and webpages (most prominently the European RRI Tools project), which can be just as useful for OsloMet employees and students: